Hey guys, welcome to Off the Great Wall. I'm Mia. I'm Felicia.
So recently we've released part one of the Guqin episode from our Journey to the East
mini documentary series. Yeah, so if you liked that first series and found it interesting
and you want to know a little more, just keep watching.
The upper surface is rounded to represent the sky, the bottoms flat to represent earth.
The original five strings are made of silk and meant to symbolize the Chinese five elements
of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. And the length of the strings,
three feet, 6.5 inches by Chinese measurements, are a reference to the 365 days of the year.
During China's cultural revolution in the 1960s and 70s, the Guqin was banned as part of the
campaign to stamp out the four olds. Old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas. Almost
all Guqin notes were burned. Only a few hundred pieces remained. Guqin masters were attacked
and forced to give up their art. But now the Guqin is regaining popularity.
So a lot of people were drawn to Guqin, not from the pop culture reference, but a lot because it
maintains a lot of the true aspects of Chinese culture. A lot of it involves the Buddhist school
and Taoist schools of thought, not to pursue fame or glory, but to be a hermit among the crowd.
When people judge a Guqin player, they often judge him or her by his or her understanding
of these kinds of philosophies and not how well his or her skills are.
So that particular aspect of Guqin really attracts me to Guqin. Before I started playing Guqin,
I was very, very interested in traditional Chinese culture. So ever since college,
I do a lot of reading and learning Chinese music. One thing I noticed that
appears in all kinds of Chinese literature or music or operas is this musical instrument called
Guqin. One day I just thought, hey, maybe I should learn Guqin now because I've been thinking about
that for the last 10 or 12, 13 years.
In 1977, the Voyager spacecraft was launched into interstellar space,
containing a diversity of musical recordings representing culture and life on Earth.
Included on board was one classic Guqin piece called Liu Shui, or Flowing Streams.
The gentle music of this ancient instrument and the cultural heritage it represents
were considered as saying something important about humanity,
important enough to send out as a message to whoever might be listening out there among the stars.
Past and present, the Guqin has been captivating audiences and performers
with its enchanting sound and haunting melodies.
Its preservation throughout the ages stands as a testament to its ability
to capture the imagination and its endurance as a form of artistic expression,
showing that the Guqin is not only a valuable link to ancient China,
but also a stunning cultural achievement of mankind as a whole.
律笙门户
圆谱吟回
沐凡凌乱
向何许
月人多矣
谁得似长亭树
树若有情时
不会得青青如此
日暮
望高尘不见
只见乱山无树
伟郎去也
怎忘得玉环分缚
第一是早早归来
怕鸿饿无人酸
空有病刀
难解离愁一许
